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As the title really. I don’t mean giving it a command but do you chat to your dog while out? Today while walking through local woods that (are normally quiet or deserted) I realised I was talking to the dog - quite unconsciously chatting about the mycelium. Don’t think the dog was interested and thankfully nobody was about.
Anyone who has ever owned, looked after, or spent any time with a dog has done this.
I rarely talk to anyone else.
Out of the whole family, I think the dog listens to me the most!😀
All day, every day…good thing, she never answers back
@supernova yeah I think that might be a big part of it. Currently working from home alone quite a bit.
@gingerbllr good to know I’m not alone then.😀 The dog is newish to us. My partners really. First dog and she’s great.
yes, and mine talks back in her own dog voice.
All the time. From the occasional one liners (he doesn’t find them funny for some reason) to proper discussions.
All the time, I like to think she understands some of it.
Same here but I'm not sure if he could really care less. Doesn't bother me, he puts up with it.
Not only talk, but I dance to my dog. Nobody but my dog witnesses it.
He loves it if I'm honest.
He likes a double hand clap.
I only have a cat to talk to ☹️ Worse yet it's the wife's cat and I think it understands most of the names I've called it in the past.
Nonetheless I try chatting to it most mornings when I'm padding about at 5am, I think I can recognise its "Good morning but I'm not getting out of my basket" meow if nothing else
All the time, I like to think she understands some of it.
Yes, I’m rather hoping that the extensive monologues I’ve been giving her on woodland as a singular organism will one day be transcribed by the dog in the form of comprehensive notes. I always forget what I’ve been thinking of not long after.
I only have a cat to talk to ☹️ Worse yet it’s the wife’s cat and I think it understands most of the names I’ve called it in the past.
You want to watch cats. They’re in it for themselves. Our cat has suddenly turned all cuddly with everyone. Funny that up till the dog came along he regularly took himself off and at one time was a proper six dinner Sid (that’s a great book by the way if you have younger children).
Not whilst out and about with him - he's a serious independent strong willed hunting dog that snaps into 'working mode' as soon as we leave the house but I love having a chat with him when he's curled up on the sofa with me.
woodland as a singular organism
I approve of this as a conversation.
Even more crazily, I talk to the big dog like she speaks perfect English, but to the smaller dog like it’s a one year old.
I don't have a dog but I talk to other people's. Nobody seems to mind.
I talk to her, way too much. However, I also talk for her through my own version of her inner monologue, it's embarrassing.
I work from home, I spend too much time with her..
Mine’s been dead 2 years and I still talk to her
I talk to my cats - each mealtime is like this:
Me: "Say sausages"
Cats: "Miaow!"
Me: "Sausages"
Cats: "Miaow!"
Me: "Sausages"
etc
My neighbours must think that I'm daft.
Always talk to my dog, and without fail comment on her on her big yawns and stretches.
She loves it .
Maybe.
I talk to all animals that I encounter as I go about my day to day business. Humans I'm a bit more cagey about.
Friends of ours have a couple of chihuahuas, both adorably friendly but one has unfortunate bulging crossed eyes. I make a point of telling her that she's a beautiful doggie, because she is.
I got the dog so that I wasn’t talking to myself when I started working freelance.
She’s a great expert on walking and cycling infrastructure but I think she’s less interested in transport data and mobility as a service.
Anyone talk to their dogs
Obvs. The old, beautiful, spaniel who's recently left us understood every word but picked and chose what she'd pay attention to. The lab who is very handsome but has only two brain cells to rub together doesn't listen but understands the world doesn't end at waist height.
They're funny buggers and frequently trouble but I can't imagine life without a dog now.
I talk to all animals that I encounter as I go about my day to day business. Humans I’m a bit more cagey about.
Me too. Dogs, cats, a horse or cow leaning over a gate, whatever. I will always attempt to stroke them and will talk to them.
I tlak to my girlfriend's cat and my neighbour's dog.
.
I did laugh at myself when I found myself pulling a face at a sheep who made a funny face at me...
Cass loves being chatted to. I do it all the time. Like she’s just another furry human. I think she craves the attention having grown up in a barn, sleeping on a pallet.
If the kids ever ask who’s my favourite child, my answer is always: “the dog - she listens, pays attention, is even tidy.” They know their place in the pack.
Just the odd chat when we are at the bar.
Yes all the time. I always apogise too when I accidentally bump into/trod on a paw etc 🙂
Tim Dowling talking to his cat, I can relate.
If you are not meant to be having conversations with animals - I’ve been doing it wrong all my life….
Absolutely. Ralph does not judge and is a very good listener, but you have to explain things to him in relatively simple structures, so he’s actually good for helping solve complex problems. He’s a spaniel, so kind of expected I guess.
I still talk to my other dog on occasion, and he has been dead nearly a year. That’s generally when I am on my own though and potentially feeling miserable.
Ralph is currently letting me know that I should be downstairs with him and not drinking coffee in bed reading the Internet.
Talk to the dog more than anyone else.
He has no idea what I’m saying (apart from some of the obvious key words/short phrases) but he certainly understands the tone. Which is generally more than any other ****er manages.
He also knows the “click” of an iPad screen lock late evening means he has to go outside and water the plants.
Yep and he talks back.
I still talk to my other dog on occasion, and he has been dead nearly a year. That’s generally when I am on my own though and potentially feeling miserable.
I can very much understand that.
I always apogise too when I accidentally bump into/trod on a paw etc 🙂
I always say sorry when I accidentally tread on a snail. It just seems the right thing to do.
Walking up the garden path on a dark damp evening can involve a lot of apologising.
Oh absolutely. I also voice one of the dogs conversations back. It is the most ridiculous thing to be honest but even BBG, who usually finds me the least funny person on Earth, laughs and FBG so really wants to believe it’s Skye taking that he goes along with it too.
The other dog doesn’t speak though - not learned how yet…
Conversations in our house go
Me: "This is my cheese sandwich, bugger off"
Lab: "I am cheesedog. From a long and distinguished line of cheese dogs. Cheese is what I am all about, give me some of that sandwich"
Me: "you are not cheesedog"
Lab (giving me the look): "Could I be cheesedog for just a few mins/one bite of the sarnie?"
This happens a lot. No one in our house even finds it odd anymore. Well except maybe the dogs!
Yep o even voice their side. Sometimes am spokesperson for them in conversations with mrs100th.
I even, when spending a week in a very isolated cottage, asked the dog why he wasn't speaking to me
My girlfriend does her cat's voice in a Bulgarian accent.
She is from Glasgow
Conversations in our house go
Me: “This is my cheese sandwich, bugger off”
Lab: “I am cheesedog. From a long and distinguished line of cheese dogs. Cheese is what I am all about, give me some of that sandwich”
Me: “you are not cheesedog”
Lab (giving me the look): “Could I be cheesedog for just a few mins/one bite of the sarnie?”
This happens a lot. No one in our house even finds it odd anymore. Well except maybe the dogs!
Sounds remarkably familiar!
My 10y/o came up with the genius line (in the dogs voice when the dog was sniffing around a bush) "To wee or not to wee that is my question..."
I've taken more notice today and I do it more than I though I did.
Told her this morning that she's going in the naughty book for rolling in fox poo again.
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“To wee or not to wee that is my question…”
That's ace. I'm stealing that.
@tracey - that is not the face of a dog who is sorry for what it's done 🙂
No. Don't have any pets now due to working away but I always find myself saying good morning / afternoon to any horses / cows / dogs / larger creatures I pass when walking or cycling. Not sheep though, having spent many years on the periphery of sheep farming I consider them to be barely sentient.
Not sheep though, having spent many years on the periphery of sheep farming I consider them to be barely sentient
That's what they want you to think, under cover geniuses the lot of them.
I've just walked our labs. In the local fields where the farmer has deposited some sheep. I know this not because of any visual verification of the animals, more this conversation
Me: What are you eating
Lab1: Nuffin
Lab2: Can't talk, mouth is full
Me: Stop eating sheep Poo. It cannot have any nutritional value having passed through a sheep.
Lab 1: Poo? This is Poo? I didn't know. Honestly. I thought it was an acorn
Lab 2: Still chewing
Me: Can you at least not eat your own bodyweight in it before we get home?
Lab 1: How much do I weight?
Lab 2: I am a Poo Harvester, A Poo Vacuum. You can refer to me as 'The Poover'
They've both gone for a lie down now. I dread the inevitable farts that are sure to follow.
Oh and just going to leave this here for Tracey
I don't have a dog but have a cat. We talk to each other all the time although I'm not sure if we understand what each other are saying. She's a Bengal so never shuts up unless she's asleep. Her nick name is Meowalot.
I’ve taken more notice today and I do it more than I though I did.
@Tracey think that’s were my question really started. I suddenly realised that I was talking to Leyla a lot more then I realised and not just when at home.
Anyway thanks to all for your positive affirmation that talking to cats, dogs and assorted animals is normal, well, not unusual at any rate.
but I always find myself saying good morning / afternoon to any horses / cows / dogs / larger creatures I pass when walking or cycling
I keep a running conversation going with any cows I have to pass on my travels, I like to think it sort of reassures them and avoids any of them getting any nasty surprises and squashing me!
Yes, I do talk to my dogs and cats.
The dogs would listen but the cats simply got bored.
The dogs would bark sometimes while the cat just gave a me "miaow" and walked off ... (probably told me to sort off).
My girlfriend does her cat’s voice in a Bulgarian accent.
She is from Glasgow
Ok I’ve spent too long today trying to hear Bulgarian accented Glasgow patter. Any chance she’d do us a little recording because honestly that sounds full of potential.
Of course.
When you read out a shopping list to your ex-police dog...
I greet any dog that gives me eye contact with "hey up pup" seems to keep them happy. Did it today with a very large pit bull outside Home Bargains and got a pit bull grin back.
I’ve been around dogs my entire life. My dogs always end up as my constant companions, we go virtually everywhere together and my current hound comes with me to work which can be very long days out by myself so I chat to him all day long. I recently lost a dog early to cancer which was heartbreaking, I still chat to her all the time too. There’s a really lovely book called ‘Never Leave The Dog Behind’ by Helen Mort which is about our relationship with dogs and mountains which I’d thoroughly recommend. Though I read it whilst my older dog was very ill and dying which was not the best time. Kept getting misty eyed…
No, but only because I don't have a dog, I do talk to the neighbour's cat though when he wanders into the garden.
If I had a dog, I'd definitely talk to it.
@The-Beard thanks for that book recommendation and sorry you lost a pal early. I’ll be honest until six months ago I did not consider myself a dog person but circumstances being what they are I can now see why dogs are so important to people and I’d be lost without Layla.
Yes, all the time....
He's far more intelligent than he lets on - despite being startled by towels, cuddly toys and the bin......
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In fact my wife says I talk to the dog more than her - probably because he's the only one who gets excited when I come home from work!!
We have a Springer called Jenson, I talk to him on walks, he's a great listener. I like to imagine his inner monologue too, now he's 11 he's got the personality of an old man and likes to grumble about the state of the world/paths/trail snacks. He was far more optimistic in his youth.
Also, my dog is obsessed with me when I sneeze.... just me, nobody else.... won't leave me alone for a few minutes afterwards. If I'm on the sofa he gets on and sits up right in my face. Anyone else experienced this?
First lockdown provided time around lessons for more walks.
I was talking to the horses and llamas (both in the llama field) and bovines.
I even came up with a "hi coo" haiku. Which weirdly I've now forgotten.
I'd probably consider it strange if anyone with dogs (or cats, hamsters, goldfish or snakes or whatever) didn't talk to them.
Yup. In my defence she's blind and a bit dim, so I figure she needs to hear my voice when we're out and about, just for the reassurance that I'm still there.
But I feel like a right plonker when anybody hears me talking to her